When the Heart of the Cards Starts Beating
by Scyler
Summary: Jaden and his pals discover that they can do things most of thier classmates can't and life at Duel Academy gets freaky.
1. Chapter 1

**Me: Morning Jaden.**

**Jaden: *yawn* g'morning. **

**Me: Still asleep?**

**Jaden: Yes.**

**Me: Well wake up. Your life is about to get interesting.**

**Jaden: *fully awake* Cool. Let's go then.**

**Me: That's a good boy.**

Jaden sat up slowly, yawning loudly as he did. Cyrus had run in screaming something about a really important duel today. The young Slifer rubbed his eyes and swung himself out of bed. His feet had barely touched the floor when Cyrus came busting in again.

"Come on Jay! The duel is about to start! You have to get up now!" he cried grabbing Jaden's coat and pants and throwing them at his friend.

"Chill out Cyrus. Everything will be fine. I'm sure that we'll get there in time." Jaden said pulling his red jacket on over his black under shirt.

"Chill out? Chill out? How can you say 'chill out'? This duel is between my big bro and Chazz! This is a duel we don't want to miss. Come on, Jay!" Cyrus yelled sizing Jaden's wrist.

His eyes snapped fully open when they got outside. Cyrus said that Chumley was already there and not entirely sure who to root for. Jaden looked at Cyrus incredulously when he said that. It seemed obvious that they should root for Chazz because Zane had beaten Jaden and he wanted to see how well Chazz would fare against him.

Cyrus kept pulling on Jaden's arm, urging him to go faster. Reluctantly Jaden broke into an easy run, with Cyrus having to trot to keep up with him. By the time they made it into the arena Chazz was losing. Jaden didn't have the courage to shout words of encouragement from the ground so he waited until he and Cyrus were with Chumley.

"Go Chazz!" was all he said at first.

When he said that Chazz looked up and saw Jaden sitting with his pals again. He shook his head and returned to the duel. It was Zane's turn and he wasted no time in summoning his Cyber End Dragon. There were no monsters on Chazz's field and he had only six hundred life points left. Victory was impossible for him at this stage

With a smirk Zane launched his attack. Just as Chazz was about to activate a trap his opponent played a spell that made all of his trap cards useless for this turn. This was soo not his day; first Dr. Crowler had called him out for not having his homework done, Dorothy had told him off for trying to take some cards and now he was about to lose to Zane

Jaden watched in surprise as Zane played his spell card. This was not going to end well for Chazz. As Cyber End Dragon's attack hit home Jaden grimaced; he had seen Chazz's hand. There was a card in his hand that could have stopped Zane's monster's attack with ease and prolonged the duel.

It seemed to Jaden that Chazz just didn't realize he had the card so he didn't play it. Cyrus and Chumley both cringed as the smoke cleared. Both of them were a little bit afraid of Chazz now that he had lost. The small blue haired Slifer looked at Jaden in surprise when he didn't move very much.

"Jay? Are you OK?" he asked looking closely at his friend.

"Hmm? Oh. Yeah I'm fine, Cy. I was just thinking about the fact that Chazz had a spell card in his hand that could have stopped Cyber End Dragon's attack." Jaden replied gesturing to Chazz's hand.

"What? He did? Jaden, I can't see his hand from here and I have glasses. How is it that you saw his hand?" Cyrus questioned squinting at Chazz.

"Yeah, how did you see his hand? We're sitting really far away so it should be really hard to see his hand." Chumley chimed it as they got up.

"I don't really know. I remember watching Chazz try to activate his trap and raising his duels disc so if a person stood beside the field could see his hand. Then my eyes just focused on his hand and suddenly I could see every card in his hand. It was really weird." he said as they walked out of the arena.

Chazz pushed past them when they were outside and Jaden caught his arm. The Obelisk Blue jerked back when he did. Turning Chazz was prepared to yell at whoever had grabbed him. Seeing that is was Jaden he adopted a really pissed look.

"What do you want, you slacker?" he snarled.

"I just wanted to say that you could have stopped Cyber End Dragon's attack. You had a card in your hand that could have done that." Jaden said letting him go easily.

"How do you know what my hand was? There was no way that you could have known what my cards were, Jaden. No way. So, don't tell me that I could have stopped that attack. I could do nothing." Chazz hissed walking off.

Jaden stared at him for a moment more before shrugging and walking toward to gym. Cyrus and Chumley followed meekly in his wake. After changing into their swim suits they followed the rest of the class out to the pool. Mrs. Fontaine was having a hard time getting the class to focus on her lesson so she finally gave up.

Throwing up her hands she told the class that they could get in the water and have a free period. The class gave off a loud cheer at that and jumped easily in the water. Cyrus and Chumley stayed in the shallow end while Jaden and the others were in the deep end. After a time Jaden came over to his palls. Both seemed really surprised to have him pop out of the water the way he did.

"Awww, Jay! What was that about?" Cyrus asked shaking his head to get the water off of his glasses.

"Sorry, Cy. I didn't think it was that bad." The brunette replied pulling himself up on the edge beside his friend.

"I'm just wondering how you came from the bottom of the pool over here with only one breath." Chumley questioned putting a chubby hand to his chin.

"I have no idea. It was like when I saw Chazz's hand back at the arena. It just happened."

Right as he said that Alexis Rhodes came over, a strange look on her face. Cyrus elbowed Jaden to get his attention. He looked up at her with a question on his face. She just looked at him for another moment before shaking her head.

As she walked off Jaden could tell that she wasn't convinced of something. She would come to ask him something later. The rest of the class was goofing off in the deep end and Mrs. Fontaine was trying to make sure that the rest of the class didn't hurt themselves with whatever they were doing.

Alexis walked back into the locker rooms with her two friends, Jasmine and Mindy. They were talking easily about something. Jaden watched them for a moment before turning his attention the other side of the pool. Mrs. Fontaine had finally calmed down the rest of the class down to the point where she could get out of the water and sit on the side.

Glancing back at the girls he noticed that they stood outside the girl's locker room. Without any warning a small pop sounded in his ears. Wincing Jaden put a hand to his ear. Lifting his head and dropping his hand he realized that he could hear every word they were saying.

"Lex? Hello? Earth to Lex!" Mindy said waving a hand in front of her face.

"Hmm? What? Sorry Mindy, what did you say?" Alexis asked with a shake of her head.

"I was just wondering what's on your mind. You seem really spaced out, especially since Jaden swam past you a few minutes ago." the black haired young woman said nodding toward the brunette on the side of the pool.

"Well, when he swam by I thought I saw something on his neck. I'm not sure if I really saw it though." The blond Obelisk said glancing over her shoulder at Jaden.

Seeing her glance back Jaden turned his attention to the water. He heard another pop in his ears and the girls' voices faded. Rubbing his right ear the young Slifer thought about what was happening. As he thought that he realized that this was going to be an interesting year.

**Jaden: There's more on the way, isn't there?**

**Me: Yep. **

**Jaden: *glares at me***

**Me: *gulps* People please review before Jaden decides to kill me. Please, I'd like to live another day thank you very much.**


	2. Chapter 2

After gym class Jaden, Syrus, and Chumley headed back to the Slifer dorm. They were laughing and goofing off in the halls and Crowler found them. He walked up with his usual upset look on his face and the three of them stopped.

"Why are you three so loud? The classes that are still in session can't concentrate. I should have you all thrown out because of it." Dr. Crowler said putting his hands on his hips.

"We're sorry, sir. We were still psyched about the duel earlier today, that's all." Jaden said trying to appease the easily pissed teacher.

"Well, if that's the case then please keep it down." Crowler said, fully taken for the excuse.

He left the three of them to their devices and they walked off. They were almost to the Slifer dorm when Syrus noticed someone standing just outside the forest. Chumley noticed the figure too but he recognized it as Alexis. The chubby Slifer elbowed Jaden and pointed her out to him. With a small wave he told them to go on ahead to the dorm and that he would catch up later.

Alexis saw him coming and pushed herself off of the tree. She looked down for a moment then back up. Jaden was standing in front of her with his head cocked to the side a bit. Taking a deep breath she opened her mouth.

"Jaden, I was wondering if you had anything strange happened recently." she asked looking him in the eye.

"Now that you mention it, yea. Some strange things happened today, in fact." he nodded taking on a thinking pose.

"Really? What happened?" the young Obelisk implored tilting her head to the right.

"Well, for starters during Zane's duel with Chazz at the very end I could suddenly see all of the cards in Chazz's hand. Then today in gym class I was able to swim from the bottom of the deep end all the way to the shallows without coming up for air." he responded waving his hand easily.

"I think I saw something when you swam past me."

He gave her a confused look and she continued, "I was underwater when you swam past. I think I saw three lines on the side of your neck, but I don't know."

Jaden simply nodded and glanced back at the Slifer dorm. There was clearly something on his mind. Before she could ask Jaden turned back to her with a questioning look on his face.

"Want to test something to see if you're right?" he asked looking at her easily.

"What did you have in mind, Jaden? I hope it doesn't involve you trying to drown yourself." she said in a suspicious tone.

"Not quite. I was just thinking that we could see how long I could stay underwater with you, Syrus and Chumley watching and ready to pull me out as soon as it seemed like I was having issues." Jaden replied easily walking toward the dorm.

Sighing Alexis followed him; there was no way that she was going to leave his safety in the hands of his slightly crazy friend. They arrived at the dorm to find Syrus and Chumley playing Go Fish. It was a strange thing to see them not playing with Duel Monster cards. Shrugging Jaden gave them his idea.

As expected both of them were skeptical, but that was to be expected. Jaden then told them that the three of them were to pull him up as soon as something seemed wrong. After that they agreed just so long as it was between them and only them.

Alexis followed the three boys to the bathroom feeling really weird about what they were going to do. Syrus seemed to share her fears and doubts; there was no way to know if Jaden really would have some strange ability to breathe under water. He glanced at Alexis and saw her face mirrored his doubts.

She smiled uneasily at him when she saw his look. Jaden called back to them telling them, that this was only between the four of them. Alexis and Syrus both nodded with strange looks on their faces. Stepping into the bathroom Jaden and Chumley started to fill the tub with water. After a moment Jaden left off and pulled of his jacket and shoes. Syrus stared at him, seriously hoping that his friend was not going to do anything else.

Finally Chumley stood up saying that the water was high enough that Jaden could fully submerge himself. Jaden nodded and looked at Syrus; his pal had a stopwatch and would be timing how long Jaden could stay under water. With a smile he stepped into the tub and dropped below the surface.

As soon as the top of his head was under Syrus started the clock. They waited and watched the clock tick by. At about seven minutes Alexis started to panic; a normal person would have to come up for air at about seven minutes. After a moment Syrus called out the eight minute mark.

Chumley and Alexis stared at Jaden; he seemed perfectly at ease in the water and didn't seem to be having any problems whatsoever. After about another minute Alexis leaned over the edge of the tub. What she saw made her gasp. The others looked at her then at Jaden.

"What's up Alexis?" Chumley asked stepping over to her.

"Well, Jaden looks like he has gills."

"What? Jay has gills? No way! That's just not possible!" Syrus cried coming over to the others.

Alexis pointed easily to Jaden's neck under the surface. Three lines on either side of his neck seemed to flap almost like wings. Syrus looked closer and saw as the flaps moved they revealed the bright red muscle of his throat. He flinched back and the others stared.

Almost like he felt their eyes on them Jaden opened his eyes. He had a strange look in his eyes, clearly wondering what was going on. Alexis wasn't really sure if he could hear her so she looked at the others for help. They couldn't provide any other help than shrugging their shoulders.

"Jaden, can you hear me?" she questioned

When he nodded she continued, "Jaden it seems like you have gills. We're not too sure how that's possible. You just have to go with it."

He smiled and started to shift his weight to get up. The gills on the side of his neck closed easily and he sat up. Water cascaded off of him as he pulled himself out of the water. Syrus and Chumley both seemed ecstatic about Jaden's new ability and Alexis smiled at their foolishness.

"Well I think this is a good time to go talk to the chancellor." Jaden smiled cocking his head lightly.

The boys nodded and Alexis just shook her head. Standing she grabbed a towel and threw it at him. The white fluffy fabric hit him square in the face.

Catching it easily he dried himself off laughing at her face. She was looking at him like he just did something stupid. Shrugging he pulled on his jacket and boots. Syrus started babbling about how these new powers would affect their lives now and Jaden kept trying to tell him that nothing would change.

He was about to say something else when Chazz stepped out of the shadow of the steps. The black haired Obelisk was looking at Jaden strangely. Then the brunette noticed that Chazz had his duel disk on.

"What do you want Chazz?" he asked looking very skeptical.

"I want to challenge you to a duel. What do you think I want?" Chazz hissed glaring at Jaden.

A small smile split the young Slifer's face as he accepted. Chazz smirked; Jaden never refused a challenge. This was going to work in his favor. He had reconstructed his deck in order to provide more power than ever before. Jaden was in for a real fight.

"Let's duel, Chazz." Jaden called out as they reached a secluded spot near the Slifer dorm.

Everything was in place and Jaden had gone and gotten his duel disk. The two of them were standing across from each other, Jaden was smiling and Chazz was grimacing. With a nod Alexis initiated the duel and Chazz started it off. The way he was playing right off the bat made Jaden and the others realize that Chazz wasn't in the mood for a friendly duel. He was in the mood for an all-out duel to the finish.

The aggressive game play Chazz was using forced Jaden to play defensive for the first few turns until he slipped up and Jaden was able to get a good attack in. Staggering the black haired duelist shot a pissed off glare in his opponents direction. He regained his balance and summoned one of his stronger monsters and had it attack. It easily destroyed Jaden's monster and when it did the shock wave was really power full.

Not only did it do a lot of damage it sent Jaden flying backwards. At first Chazz didn't register the fact that that Jaden had gone flying into a tree and wasn't getting up. When Alexis, Syrus, and Chumley ran toward him the young Princeton realized something was wrong. After a moment Alexis pulled back, a look of shock and horror on her face.

"What's wrong Alexis?" Syrus asked coming up behind the young Obelisk.

"He hit the tree so hard the force made his back split open." she said slowly reaching out to grab his jacket.

Syrus took a step back as she freed Jaden's arms from the red jacket. His friend's back was bloody and it seemed like something was moving beneath the surface. The black undershirt had two long slits in it that seemed have come from hitting the tree the way he did. As Alexis reached out to pull the undershirt off whatever had been moving pushed up.

Both of them screamed and leapt back as two large black-ish wings came out of Jaden's back. Chumley was just as surprised and fell back on his butt at the same time Chazz tripped over a tree branch. All four of them stared at Jaden in shock. For about five minutes no one moved.

Chazz was the first to recover and he got slowly to his feet. He continued to stare at Jaden with wide eyes. There was no way that he should be able to have wings. It just was not possible and if it was that meant that Jayden wasn't human. Alexis got to her feet and stepped slowly over to the young Slifer. He was still unconscious but it looked like he would be waking up soon.

She stood there for another moment staring at him. Then she shot a glare at Chazz over her shoulder. The black haired young man stepped back in surprise. Walking over to him Alexis got ready to chew him out for hurting Jaden. Just as she opened her mouth a soft groan distracted her.

Turning she saw Syrus and Chumely kneeling around Jaden who was slowly getting up. He looked like he had been through hell and he had. Lifting his head the brunette looked at his friends with bleary eyes.

"What happened, Sy?" he asked pulling himself into a seated position.

"Well… I don't know how to explain this…"Syrus began but was cut off by Chazz.

"You have wings now, slacker." He hissed clearly still pissed about something.

"Wait…What?" Jaden asked looking up at him.

"Do I have to spell it out for you? YOU-HAVE-WINGS!" Chazz intonated waving his hands in the air like he had wings.

Jaden's eyes widened and he looked behind him. Sure enough two large black wings were attached to his back. As if on command the right wing pulled slightly and stretched out. When it was fully extended it looked like it was about eight feet long and the feathers looked a bit like spikes of some kind. The whole thing looked like something out of some kind of fairy tale. There was no way it was real.

Then he noticed the small drops of what looked like blood clinging to the smooth black feathers. Shifting around he reached up and touched one of the drops. It broke as soon as he touched it and a red dot colored his finger tip. Jaden pulled back blinking in surprise and his friends stared at him as realization hit.

"You have to go to see Mrs. Fontaine. Right now." Alexis said reaching out to help him up.

"No way! She'll freak out about this!" Jaden cried allowing one of the wings to snap out behind him.

When it did blood flew from the feathers and splattered on the trees behind him again. Syrus spazzed out as a few drops splashed him in the face. Chumely and Chazz moved out of the way of the flailing wing but Chumely stumbled and fell flat on his butt. Had everyone not been so worried about Jaden they would all have laughed.

"Jay, watch what you do with those wings! You could seriously hurt someone with them!" Syrus wailed wiping his face with his sleeve.

"Sorry, bud. It seems that I can control them with a simple thought. Anyway, everyone would freak if they saw that I now have wings." Jaden said shaking his head.

"Well, we have to do something." Chumely said finally getting off his butt.

"Yeah. We go see Sheppard. He should be the first to know." The brunette Slifer said taking his jacket from Alexis.

The others nodded and walked toward the school. Jaden followed them slipping his bloody red jacket around his shoulders in an attempt to hide the wings. He sighed and hoped no one noticed. Sheppard would know what to do. At least Jaden hoped he would.


End file.
